Biography

Roberto Dañino was Ambassador of Peru to the United States (2002-2003). During his tenure, Ambassador Dañino focused his efforts on the negotiation of the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), the promotion of the Free Trade Agreement between Peru and the United States, the support of the financing process to the Camisea project, and the negotiation of a new strategy in the fight against drugs, amongst the various issues relevant to the bilateral agenda.

Prior to serving as Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Dañino was the Prime Minister of Peru (2001-2002). During his tenure, Dr. Dañino was responsible for the negotiation of an unprecedented National Agreement (“Acuerdo Nacional’) which brought the leading political parties, the most representative civil society organizations, and the government to agree on a set of thirty long term policies to be observed for the next twenty years. He also launched an ambitious program for poverty alleviation, promotion of economic growth and established a national competitiveness program aimed at doubling non-traditional exports in three years, among other various initiatives

Before joining government, Dr. Dañino was a partner of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, a leading law firm in Washington, D.C., where he was the Chairman of the Latin American Practice Group. His practice focused on providing legal advice on international corporate transactions, especially foreign direct investment, project finance, capital markets transactions and international disputes settlements. For more than thirty years, Dr. Dañino participated in these types of matters in virtually every country in Latin America on behalf of a wide variety of clients, including private, public, and multilateral entities.

Dr. Dañino has also been a member of various corporate boards, both in the United States and in Latin America. His board memberships have included The Coca-Cola Company Latin American Advisory Board, the Americas Society Chairman’s Council, Carnegie Endowment’s G-50 Board, Hochschild Mining plc, JER Latin American Advisory Board, Goldfields Peru, Newbridge Andean Partners, Royal & SunAIliance/Fenix, Cementos Pacasmayo, Sindicato Pesquero, The Infant Nutrition Fund, The Mountain Institute, Peru 2021, Foro Iberoamericano, The Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and The Open Society Institute, among others.

He also has been the founding General Counsel of the Inter-American Investment Corporation in Washington, D.C. (1989-1993) and the chairman of the Inter-American Development Bank’s External Review Group for Private Sector activities. Prior to moving to the USA, Dr. Dañino was a practicing corporate lawyer in Peru (1973-1989), where he also occupied several senior positions in the Government of Peru, including Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Trade; President of the Foreign Investment and Technology Agency; and Chairman of the Foreign Public Debt Commission.

Dr. Dañino is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of Hochschild Mining plc, the first Latin American company to issue shares in the London Stock Exchange. Previously, from 2003-2006 that he was the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group, as well as Secretary General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes – ICSID.

Dr. Dañino is a Peruvian citizen, born in Lima in 1951, holds law degrees from Harvard University and the Catholic University of Peru. He lectures and publishes extensively on international economic law. He is married and has four sons.